Patriots: Kickoff returns rare bright spot

FOXBORO – One of the few things the New England Patriots did well in their worst home loss in 10 years was return kickoffs.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FOXBORO – One of the few things the New England Patriots did well in their worst home loss in 10 years was return kickoffs.

Ellis Hobbs ran back six of them for 237 yards, a single-game team record, and leads the NFL with an average of 36 yards per kickoff return.

“That’s the kind of guy you want to block for,” special teams captain Larry Izzo said yesterday. “He’s fearless. He hits the holes and he’s going to break some tackles if he has to. When you’ve got a guy back there like that, as a blocker you want to do everything you can to give him an opportunity to showcase his skills.”

Hobbs had many more opportunities Sunday than the Patriots wanted him to have.

He returned the opening kickoff then had to handle five more after scoring plays by the Miami Dolphins in their 38-13 upset over the three-time Super Bowl winners. It was the Patriots most lopsided loss at home since Nov. 8, 1998, when the Atlanta Falcons beat them 41-10.

The Dolphins had a huge edge in yards gained, 461-216. They gained only 47 yards on kickoffs but ran back only three after each of the Patriots scoring plays.

New England has a bye week before going to the West Coast for consecutive games against San Francisco and San Diego.

“We’ve got a bye week to correct mistakes and get better,” said fullback Heath Evans, who blocks on special teams.

Against the Dolphins, Hobbs returned the opening kickoff for 50 yards than added runbacks of 22, 30, 23, 81 and 31 yards.

“I am exhausted, but that is the business,” he said after the game. “You are not going to sit here and mope and complain.”

Hobbs also was busy covering receivers as the starting cornerback.

But his most impressive performance of the day came on the kickoffs.

“Ellis is a great returner,” Evans said. “He hits holes, he has great vision and he’s knows the returns and when you know where you’re supposed to hit things and you know the blocking assignments he makes things easier on us to make those blocks for him.

“Most of the time he just needs a little blink. He’s good. He’s very good.”

In last season’s Patriots opener, Hobbs returned a kickoff for an NFL record 108 yards at the New York Jets. That was the longest play of any kind in league history until Antonio Cromartie of San Diego returned a field goal 109 yards later in the year.

Hobbs averaged 26 yards last season, his first as the Patriots’ primary kickoff returner.

“Teamwork” is the key, coach Bill Belichick said. “I think Ellis has run the ball well and broken some tackles but he’s also had some room to run. That’s a function of the timing of the front line, the wedge, the returner and the (other) returner, whoever that may be.

“So, it’s unusual that a kickoff return is clean, opens up and parts like the Red Sea. There are usually a lot of things that have to be adjusted along the way.”

Hobbs, in his fourth pro season, is the Patriots’ all-time leader with an average kickoff return of 28.5 yards.

“He’s shown throughout his career here that he is a guy that is fast, he’s quick, he runs hard, he breaks tackles, he had good vision,” Izzo said. “Those are things that you look for in a returner and I think he’s all of those and he takes a lot of pride in being the returner.”